You Bomb - We'll Tech

Linksys routers, already able to sense movement, will soon be able to monitor your breathing.  I feel queasy.  Naturally this means they will sell millions to well-meaning idiots, who will then complain when their health info and movement history gets into the hands of the insurance industry and hackers.


REvil ransomware exploiting VPN flaws made public last April.


DHS warns of Iranian cyber threat.


Remember - Windows end of support for Windows 7 ends 1/14/2020.
Does it matter? 7 will keep operating. Have you gotten 10 yet? Should you?
-abandon ship.... move to a different OS.


3 Google Play apps exploit android Zero-Day used by NSO group.


City of Las Vegas got breached. No info about severity, method, or backups.



LINUX

How to delete a directory in linux - several different ways.

How to use apparmor: restrict programs' capabilities with per-program profiles



EDITORIAL

Diversity - why open source needs to work on it in 2020

I call BS.

Diversity is like Affirmative Action - discriminatory, demeaning, divisive, and possibly damaging.  I am not restricting this to any business or group: it's all inclusive.

Ask yourself, if you were doing the hiring, do you hire the minority because they're a minority, or do you hire the right person for the job, minority or not?

As someone who did a bit of hiring, in the end, I hired the most competent for the job. In addition to being the only smart decision, I'd have to deal with a less than spectacular hire when they couldn't do their job. No one has the time to train then retrain. I don't have the patience. I want the right person for the job. Someone who is smart enough to figure out what they don't know. Their color, ethnicity, gender, or what they identify as, is a non-starter. It also doesn't matter after they get hired. The fact that they're good at their job will be noticed and appreciated.

In spite of my horrible attitude, all my hires stuck.

Telco Malware?

Mandiant has discovered malware that siphoned texts out of the telco's network.
Infects servers that route SMS messages.
Tracks back to... get ready..... a Chinese Government sponsored hacking group.

The only question that remains is who gets it first: the NSA or the Chinese?




Speaking of Chinese food, I don't eat it because it all tastes the same, regardless of where it's from. Bland. No spice.

Speaking of Chinese spying, the US Department of the Interior has grounded its 800 drone fleet over concerns of Chinese spying.

Here's the good part - you're gonna love it: DHS alerted about data security issues, specifically on Chinese drones.  Who woulda thought? Didn't we (temporarily and partially) ban Huawei networking products for this reason?

Would all the heads of government agencies who understand tech please stand in line. All of you. Any at all? Not even one? No, Sir, you're the janitor.. I'm sure you know more than the heads of agencies, but you're not the head of this agency.




The Pirate Bay was down for a week due to a DDoS attack.
Gee, I wonder where that came from....



As of Firefox 73, you can no longer sideload extensions.
The comments are priceless.

I like to sit alone on weekends and sideload, so this will affect me.



Happy Friday, everyone.
Sleep tight, and pray the large numbers of little brown bedbugs don't bite.